Community gathers to end drug addiction and violence

POTTSTOWN — The day after a shooting incident was reported at Rolling Hills Apartments, dozens gathered at Riverfront Park in the borough to speak out against such violence and raise awareness of drug addiction as part of the 5th Annual Stop the Drugs, Stop The Violence Crusade.

Harris Family Ministries hosted the event, which drew more than 60, along with community and religious groups from as far away as Philadelphia.

“What we do is not just for the Pottstown community but the Pottstown-area community,” said Valerie Jackson, who emceed the event.

Those gathered in the park hoped their message spreads throughout the area, including to Rolling Hills, where it appeared several young men ran around the complex firing shots, according to the Lower Pottsgrove Police.

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No one was injured in that incident.

“We want to keep the awareness going. We don’t want to stop,” Jackson said. “It’s one thing to be aware. It’s another thing to actually do something about it.”

With people gathered in the park for music and to hear testimony as well as a panel discussion, one of the main focuses was drug addiction.

“We want to bring the light of the Lord into people’s lives, but we’re not compeltely finished,” said the Rev. Georgiana Harris, founder of Harris family ministries.

Harris’ voice became very emotional several times when talking about drug addiction because one of her chidlren struggled with it.

This year’s event was again themed, “Love Can Build a Bridge.”

“We think (drug addicts) are bad people, they’re rotten people,” Harris said. “If we’re trying to help build that bridge of love, we have to let them know they can be helped.”

“We want people to recognize drug addiction and not be afraid to do something about it,” Jackson said.

After last year’s event, Jackson said there were five “intake calls” to Teen Challenge, a program fighting addictions, following the event.

The Rev. Darin Park, of Living Waters Outreach Worship Center in Norristown, spoke of his troubles in the past with addiction and selling drugs.

“I got to the point where I was scared to live and scared to die,” he said, adding that he was searching for “peace in all the wrong places.”

Park credited his faith with pulling him back, and he has been clean for more than 20 years, he said.

As part of the event, following music from Living Waters’ choir, a panel of experts answered questions the community had asked in the past.

Among those on the panel was Harris, Dr. Rocio Nell, of Montgomery County Emergency Services, Gail Cooper, principal of Pottstown Middle School, Corporal Ed Kropp Jr. and Officer Mike Breslin, of the Pottstown Police, Det. Greg Henry, of the Montgomery County Detectives, and Derrick Ford, from the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health.

Ford said he also struggled with addiction and now hosts a radio show discussing, among other things, how to get past it.

“I might’ve been chasing you in the street with guns,” in the past, Ford said to Park, noting how they both got past their addictions and violence.

“On the way over I got a call from a person I sent to jail,” said Henry, describing the man as a former opiate pain pill addict. “He just got out of jail and he didn’t know who to call. I like to think I can help people.”

Jackson said authorities like Henry, Kropp and Breslin are there to help the community and thanked them for coming out.

After the panel answered questions of who addicts could be, stressing that there is no single type of person who fits the bill, and how beneficial it is to dump old prescriptions in the disposal receptacle at the Pottstown Police Department, there was more music.

Hands in His, an American Sign Language Choir from Gethsemane Tabernacle of Hope Church in Royersford, performed under the direction of Georgette Smith-Slater and Sharisse English, using their hands as a visual expression of their song.

Throughout the park, children played with footballs or got their faces painted. Many community organizations, including the Mosaic Lands Trust and the Tri-County YWCA, turned out and set up tables.

“It is magnanimous that these are people volunteering on their day off,” Jackson said.

Singing songs of praise and enjoying the mild weather, Harris hopes the event can continue to reach out to the community.

“We’re just going to keep doing it until the Pottstown Police tell us there is no more drug problem,” Harris said.

About the Author

Frank Otto is a general assignment reporter covering Phoenixville, Limerick and Spring-Ford schools in addition to features and spot news. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Otto moonlights with the sports department on occasion. Reach the author at fotto@pottsmerc.com
or follow Frank on Twitter: @fottojourno.